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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-19-1981 MinutesMINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 19, 1981 CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 8 00 P M by E A Snider, Mayor ROLL CALL By City Clerk Councilman present were S K Adams, Gary Bosch, Beverly Green, Charles Grigg, Ira Schmidt and E A Snider Also present were Lee Kraft, City Manager, Greg Rubstello, City Attorney, Diane Dolan, Finance Director, James Ajax, City Engineer, Webster Jackson, Administrative Assistant and Max Bigby, Assistant Planner CONSENT AGENDA Mr Schmidt moved that Consent Agenda be approved Seconded by Mrs Green Motion carried by roll call vote of six (6) Consent items are as follows a) Approval of Minutes Approve minutes of special meetings, held October 7th and 12, 1981, respectively b) Bills To approve General Claims in the amount of $195,502 27, claim warrant nos 28771 through 28907 VISITORS PROCLAMATION - BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL WOMENS' WEEK On behalf of the City of Pasco, Mayor Snider read and presented Proclamation to Mrs Charlotte Bates, President of the Business & Professional Womens' Club, honoring them for their achievement and service to the City of Pasco REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES AND/OR OFFICERS Due to decline in revenue as opposed to exceptionally good weather, Mr Grigg asked the Parks & Recreation Director to submit a short report on his views why the Golf Revenue is down PUBLIC HEARINGS MAYOR SNIDER DECLARED THE PUBLIC HEARING OPEN ON UTILITY TAX ORDINANCE WHICH HAD BEEN RESCHEDULED TO THIS DATE The City Manager reported that the Ordinance had been modified to reflect conditions acceptable by all utilities as follows 1) Section 5 has been eliminated in its entirety The Telephone Company, the local P U D , and Cascade Natural Gas all in- dicated that if Section 5 were to remain in the Ordinance, that an additional 7% surcharge would be passed on to their customers in 1982 2) The language contained in Section 4(a) which excluded from the gross operating revenues of any telephone business charges which are passed on to the subscribers of the telephone company pursuant to tariffs required by regulatory order to compensate for the cost to the company the tax imposed by this Ordinance, has been removed from that section and inserted in Section 1, Paragraph 1 This change enables the exception to apply equally to all utilities This change thus provides consistency to the Ordinance 3) Section 4(c) was revised to include the proviso that there shall not be any tax levied for the installation charges of gas service units This revision was requested by Cascade Natural Gas in view of the proviso in Section 4, Paragraph B with regards to electrical utility This revision also provides additional consistency to the Ordinance 4 ) A new Section 14 was included to make clear that the provisions of this Ordinance amend, by substitution, the existing utility tax provisions of the Pasco Municipal Code as of January 1, 1982 Page Two MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 19, 1981 PUBLIC HEARING - Continued Mr Bosch asked how much money we would generate if we increased the utility tax Staff replied that it would be approximately $75,000 to $100,000 Mr Grigg wanted reassurance that if the increase was granted, that it would be used for street overlays only, otherwise, he would be opposed to such in- crease The City Manager reported that he had been informed by the City Engineer that it would take approximately $250,000 per year to do an adequate job of keeping the streets up, and if this tax generated up to $100,000 per year, we would still be falling behind in our committment to the people who paid to have their streets improved Mr Schmidt expressed concern if our Revenue Sharing Funds were dropped, how would we fund the extra policemen hired The City Manager concurred this would pose a serious problem Mr Bob McFarland asked, "what does this 1% represent today?" He, again, reiterated his previous opposition on the basis that collectively, all utilities were increasing and costs were getting prohibitive Further, when will this tax or fund be cancelled? Mr Harry Moore, 2203 N 7th, stated he was told that when he L I D 'd his streets, they would then be taken care of by City Street Fund, and if the City had not created such a fund, then the responsibility was ours Staff replied that the City has never had the funds to improve streets but it is our desire to try and maintain them, if possible Mr Grigg felt the City had an obligation to the citizens of Pasco to protect their investment and this was one means of doing so Mr Howard McGee supported proposed increase because he "didn't want to go back to where we used to be " Following three (3) calls from Mayor Snider for further comments from the floor, either for or against, the Public Hearing was declared closed ORDINANCE NO 2300 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 5 32 OF THE PASCO MUNICIPAL CODE, WHICH PROVIDES FOR A UTILITIES LICENSE AND OCCUPATION TAX, THE COLLECTION OF SUCH TAX, AND DEFINES OFFENSES AND PRESCRIBES PENALTIES BY SUBSTITUTION OF ALL SECTIONS OF THE SAME WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ORDINANCE WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE INCREASE OF THE OCCUPATION TAX, AND IN ADDITION TO THE PROVISIONS OF SAID CHAPTER 5 32, PROVIDES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A RESERVE FUND FOR OVERLAYING OR SEALING ASPHALTIC CONCRETE STREET, FOR FUNDING OF THE RESERVE FUND, AND FURTHER PROVIDING FOR THE PROPER ADMINIS- TRATION OF THE PROVISIONS HEREOF Ordinance No 2300 was read by title only Mr. Grigg moved to adopt Ordinance No. 2300, as amended, providing for the increase of utility tax rates Seconded by Mr Bosch Mr Grigg moved to amend Ordinance No 2300 by establishing a time limit of ten (10) years Motion died for lack of a second Mr Grigg moved to formerly amend Ordinance No 2300 by the incorporation of item nos 1 - 4, as recommended by the City Attorney Seconded by Mr Bosch Motion carried by roll call vote of five (5) Mr Schmidt voting no Mr Bosch felt that past councils didn't exercise foresight in a street maintenance program, however, he was opposed to putting a time limit on program and tying hands Mr Adams countered that time limits have their advantages sometime as taxes never get reduced, but he had real concerns for low income people living in Pasco Page Three MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 19, 1981 ORDINANCE NO 2300 - Continued Mr Adams moved to amend Ordinance No 2300 by setting a time limit of December 31, 1982, at which time it could be reviewed and determination made at that time Seconded by Mr Schmidt Mr Grigg voiced his opposition to 1-year time limit as it had no planning ability Mr Bosch asked if we could leverage in 10-years Staff replied 10-years was more reasonable Amendment FAILED by roll call vote of four (4) Councilmen Adams and Green voting yes Mr Grigg again moved to amend Ordinance No 2300, setting time limit as December 31, 1991 Seconded by Mr Schmidt Motion FAILED by roll call vote of five (5) Mr Grigg voting yes MAIN MOTION, AS AMENDED, CARRIED BY ROLL CALL VOTE OF SIX (6) RECESS 9 10 P M RECONVENED 9 20 P M MAYOR SNIDER DECLARED THE RESCHEDULED PUBLIC HEARING OPEN ON PROPOSED 1982 UTILITY RATE ADJUSTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW UTILITY FEES Mr Ajax, City Engineer/Director of Public Works, stated that in 1980, staff did a utility rate study which was presented to the City Council, recommending rate increases for 1981 and subsequently enacted It also provided for future increases and certain other modifications to the present Code As a result of public hearings, a committee was formed and a large part of their time was spent investigating revenue possibilities Essentially, their recommendations are as follows 1) Raise bi-monthly water and sewer rates 16%, except large volume commercial sewer users who would have a 60% increase The revenue from this increase will be approximately $225,000 2) Establish a system fee (capital cost recovery or plant fee) to all new connections (surcharged 50% outside City) 3) Establish bi-monthly advance minimum billing to all utility customers 4) Update turn-on and new customer fees to better reflect actual cost Mr Bosch felt this didn't solve the utility problem entirely He suggested eliminating the park fee and adding this to the utility Mr Schmidt asked, "how many brown lawns do you think we will see?" Mr Ajax didn't feel it would be significant due to increase Mr Adams opposed the two-month advance billing because it appeared we were telling people who had paid bills for years that their credit was no good Further, he could see the advanced billing on new accounts, but not on old, established customers Mayor Snider reiterated that it would reduce amount of bad debts to the City by advancing the billing Mr Schmidt asked if the change would affect minimum billing for fixed incomes? Staff replied no Mr Ed Frost asked if the City had an allowance for bad debts and "what was wrong with deposits?" Staff replied that with the new computer, we had a much better disciplining of accounts, therefore, bad debt write-offs had decreased The City had phased out deposits because of a Court decision requiring that you pay interest on money held Page Four MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 19, 1981 PUBLIC HEARING - Continued Mr Earl Warren called attention to memo from James Ajax in January, 1981, asking for rate increase and another memo in October, 1981, asking for rate increase He reminded officials that "you of this generation don't know what it's like to do with less, but you'll learn " Mr Harry Moore stated that he had surveyed vacancies in the Pasco area, and right now, it is running 40% in the studio and 1-bedroom units Family units are only experiencing approximately 5% factor With this in mind, he asked, "how much are we talking about on 2-month advance billing cycle " Staff replied it would amount to approximately $120,000 Mr Moore-then encouraged the council to reconsider this action and come up with some other type of plan Following three (3) calls from Mayor Snider for further comments from the floor, either for or against, the public hearing was declared closed ORDINANCE NO 2307 AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO THE CITY WATER AND SEWER RATES, FEES AND CHARGES BY AMENDING SECTION 13 20 020, 13 20 030, 13 20 050, 13 40 020, 13 20 040, and 13 16 090 OF THE PASCO MUNICIPAL CODE AND BY ENACTING SECTIONS 13 16 035, 13 22 010, 13 42.010, 13 42 020 AND 13 42 030 TO THE PASCO MUNICIPAL CODE Ordinance No 2307 was read by title only Mr Schmidt moved to adopt Ordinance No 2307, increasing the City water and sewer rates, fees and charges Seconded by Mr Grigg Motion carried by roll call vote of four (4) Councilmen Bosch and Adams voting no MAYOR SNIDER DECLARED THE PUBLIC HEARING OPEN TO CONTINUE PUBLIC HEARING ON VACATION OF THAT PORTION OF SOUTH STREET, LYING BETWEEN SOUTH FOURTH AVENUE AND SOUTH FIFTH AVENUE Mr Grigg moved to continue the hearing until November 16th to provide sufficient time for affected property owners to execute a common easement agreement Seconded by Mr Schmidt Motion carried by roll call vote of six (6) ORDINANCES/RESOLUTIONS ORDINANCE NO 2308 AN ORDINANCE VACATING CERTAIN UTILITY EASEMENTS RETAINED WHEN RIGHTS OF WAY WERE VACATED AND ABANDONING CERTAIN SEWER LINES IN BLOCK 101, NORTHERN PACIFIC PLAT OF THE TOWN OF PASCO Ordinance No 2308 was read by title only Mr Grigg moved to adopt Ordinance No 2308, abandoning a portion of existing public sewer and portion of existing ' utility easements in Block 101, Northern Pacific Plat of the Town of Pasco Seconded by Mr Schmidt Motion carried by roll call vote of six (6) NEW BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS TO GOLF COURSE ADVISORY COMMITTEE Mayor Snider made the following appointments to Golf Course Advisory Committee, and asked the Council's concurrence TERM RUNNING TO Janet Vance Position No 1 August 1, 1982 Landon McMurdo Position No 2 August 1, 1984 K W Conrad Position No 3 August 1, 1982 H W Parkinson Position No 4 August 1, 1983 Dave Henton Position No 5 August 1, 1983 Arthur Burke Position No 6 August 1, 1984 Roy Strode Position No 7 August 1, 1984 Mr Grigg moved to concur with Mayor's appointments Seconded by Mrs Green Motion carried Meeting adjourned at 10 05 P M ATT Eve yn Wells, City Clerk PASSED and APPROVED this_A__day 1981 Page Five MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 19, 1981 NEW BUSINESS - Continued APPOINTMENTS - BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT Mayor Snider re-appointed Sharon Lawson to a five-year term which will expire on November 19, 1986 Mayor Snider appointed Phillip Hill, filling the unexpired term of Lane Merryman, which is November 19, 1982 Mr Schmidt moved to concur with Mayor Snider's appointments Seconded by Mr Grigg Motion carried FINAL PLAT - DESERT SANDS (81-41-PP) Councilman Gary Bosch excused due to conflict of interest Mr. Grigg moved to approve the final plat of Desert Sands and authorize the Mayor to sign final plat Seconded by Mr Schmidt Motion carried by roll call vote of five (5) FINAL PLAT - AUTO PARK TWO (81-47-PP) Mr Grigg moved to approve the final plat of Auto Park Two and authorize the Mayor to sign said final plat Seconded by Mr Adams Motion carried by roll call vote of six (6) ADJOURNMENT